Bills advance for sick days, Olympian tax breaks

Lorena Gonzalez

Lorena Gonzalez

Lorena Gonzalez

Employers would be required to give workers three paid sick days a year, Olympic medal winners would be exempt from paying taxes on cash prizes and adults could be helmet-free when driving certain off-road vehicles under state legislation that advanced Friday.

Another bill subsidizing diapers for welfare recipients also moved forward as did a measure banning the use of plastic microbeads in soaps and cosmetics to keep them out of waterways.

Notable bills that stalled would have extended welfare aid to some legal immigrants who do not currently qualify and health care to illegal immigrants.

The sick leave bill moved out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee during a session that determined whether numerous bills live or die this year. AB 1522 will go to the Assembly floor next week,

The author of the bill, Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, says that nearly 40 percent of the state’s workforce, or 6 million people, earn no sick leave benefits, forcing them to choose between coming to work while ill and exposing others or staying home and losing pay and possibly their job. Parents also are forced to choose between staying at home with a sick child or going to work, she said.

“Every time this choice comes up for a sick employee, everyone loses money — whether it’s through unnecessary emergency room costs, the billions of dollars lost in productivity annually when sick employees try to work while under the weather, or lost wages that impact whether working families can put food on the table,” Gonzalez said previously.

The victory may be temporary, however. The California Chamber of Commerce has branded it a “job killer” and rarely do those measures become law.

A coalition of business groups urged the bill’s defeat, saying “it would add to the already growing number of costs. While many employers voluntarily offer sick leave for full-time employees, expanding this to be a mandate… will create a huge burden.”

Another measure, Assembly Bill 1516, was passed and sent to the floor. It would provide an $80 per month supplement to those enrolled in Cal Works, the state’s welfare program, to offset the cost of diapers for children under three. Gonzalez said not being afford to afford diapers can prevent recipients who need child care from attending attend job training programs and meet other requirements for grants.

The committee cast aside her bill to provide welfare benefits to immigrants who are in the country legally but do not qualify for food stamps, cash assistance and job training.

AB 2345 would have extended that aid to members of the military, their spouses and veterans, those here under the nation’s refugee program and young people who qualified for President Barack Obama’s program giving them a two-year reprieve from deportation as long as they meet a string of requirements.

The following segments were contributed by The Associated Press

Olympian tax break

Legislation that would exempt California athletes who win Olympic medals from paying state taxes on their cash prizes passed the state Assembly and prompted a spirited debate among lawmakers about who deserves freedom from tax collectors.

The bill, AB 2323, by Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, heads to the Senate after passing on a 53-4 vote. Many Olympians have meager salaries and deserve the break for representing their country and training with little financial support from the government, Gorell said.

“The least we can do as a state and as Americans is to give these athletes a small break on (the) achievements they earn for their enormous sacrifice, these achievements made on our behalf,” Gorell said.

Democratic Assemblyman Das Williams of Santa Barbara said Gorell’s bill sets a poor precedent by picking favorite occupations to exempt from taxes. He took a shot at Gorell’s argument that athletes give back to the community by visiting schools.

“Those school kids need their tax revenue more than they need the volunteerism,” Williams said. “Those athletes did not make it on their own. They made it with roads paid by taxes, schools paid by taxes and services paid by taxes.”

Helmet-less

The bill allowing some off-roaders to eschew helmets passed the Assembly despite opposition from public health groups and the industry trade association.

AB 1835 by Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Modesto, heads to the Senate after narrowly passing on a 43-21 vote, just above the threshold for approval in the 80-member chamber.

She said existing state law treats recreational off-highway vehicles as if they were motorcycles. Instead, she said they are more like golf carts for outdoor enthusiasts.

Olsen said the existing law is an example of “unnecessary nanny government policies.”

“People should be allowed to determine for themselves when a helmet is suitable for their driving style and conditions — not the state — especially when no data or studies have shown ROV drivers to be any less safe without a helmet,” she said in a statement after the vote.

The Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, however, cites a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics showing that failure to wear a helmet was thought to be a contributing factor in more than half of injuries and deaths involving such vehicles. The group opposes the bill. On its website, the association lists helmet use among its top safety rules.

Microbeads out

Manufacturers and other state legislatures have acted to remove microbeads from soaps and cosmetics. On Friday, the California Assembly joined them

Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble Co. and other manufacturers already are phasing out the exfoliating ingredients, which are considered harmful to the environment in part because they are not biodegradable.

AB 1699 by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, heads to the Senate after passing on a 45-10 vote. He said the tiny exfoliating beads make their way past filters in municipal water treatment plants and are swallowed by fish.

The cosmetics industry opposes the bill and won a concession to push back the timeline of the phase-out to 2019. Bloom said other manufacturers have pledged to use natural, biodegradable exfoliating ingredients such as cocoa beans and apricot shells.

“The nation’s personal care products companies have a longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship and the safety of their products and are demonstrating leadership on this issue,” the Personal Care Products Council said in a statement after the bill passed.